Facilities
Part of Coworking capacity and occupancy
Planning room capacity from booking demand
Use room requests, reservations, observed use and recurring conflicts to identify the meeting-room capacity a site needs.
Plan meeting-room capacity from requests for a suitable room at a particular time. Compare confirmed bookings with observed use where that information is available. Free calendar hours can coexist with unmet demand for another room size, meeting length or time slot.
Describe the rooms and requests
Inventory each room's practical seating, layout, equipment, access hours and changeover needs. A stated seat count is only a starting point: furniture, movement, equipment and meeting format affect practical fit. WorkSafe Victoria's office layout guidance addresses these considerations but cannot establish any particular room's usable capacity.
Group requests by participant count, duration, preferred time and essential equipment or privacy needs. Before treating a larger room as an alternative to the smaller room requested, check that it is genuinely available and suitable.
Record request outcomes
Outcome / What it indicates
- Confirmed and observed in use
- The room served a meeting at that time
- Confirmed but apparently unused
- Reserved time may have gone unused; verify before changing rules
- Cancelled and released
- Time returned to availability, if others could still book it
- Requested but unavailable
- Possible unmet demand for that room type and time
- Moved to another room or time
- Demand served with a compromise to review
A booking system may record only confirmed reservations. If so, use a proportionate staff log or member feedback to capture failed requests.
Record the requested time and room type; avoid collecting meeting subjects or attendee identities merely for capacity analysis. A full calendar shows reserved time, not necessarily actual use.
Confirmed Bookings vs. Observed Use by Room Type
- Confirmed and observed in use
- Room was used as scheduled
- Confirmed but apparently unused
- Reservation made but no evidence of use
- Requested but unavailable
- Unmet demand for room type and time
Find recurring collisions
Compare suitable rooms available, confirmed use and known unmet requests by room category and time block. A weekly utilisation percentage can conceal a shortage at a particular hour. Review repeated conflicts before deciding that another room is needed.
Check whether advance holds, long booking windows or unreleased cancellations restrict the slots members can use. If a rule change is appropriate, assess demand again in the same busy blocks. Where unmet demand remains, consider whether an existing area could become a suitable room. Safe Work Australia's model code covers workspaces and worker facilities; any physical conversion still needs checks for the particular site and jurisdiction.
A room-capacity proposal should identify the meeting type, recurring conflict, evidence of unmet requests and gaps in the record. That gives the operator something specific to assess after a rule change or space conversion.
